Dents in original paint

[Lou Boffa]

Guys, some advice please. Is it possible to get dents out of an original paint body without destroying the paint. These vehicles seem too thick for the "dentless" guys and I'm not familiar enough with body work to know if an old school metal bumping guy could do the trick..if I can find one. What's reasonable to expect--or do I just need to accept the hickies 45 years of work has done? Love the patina--hate the dents.

[hugger6933]

Lou, in my almost 30 years p&b experience i would say the paint is gonna have to get broken to do those dents in one way or another. Either grinding it off to repair or if dent tools could work, the paint most surely will crack, sorry to tell you . Jim

[69chevy lwb]

It's possible but very time consuming. My tailgate was pushed in 1-3/4 inches with a few pretty deep dents. I was able to cut the spot welds and pull it back into shape as well as beat the dents out. Of course there is some amount of distortion in the metal but very few people notice it. The only problem with paint is it might flake down to the primer but that's just adding to the patina

[Mike C]

Paintless dent shops do it all the time. But it can't be creased, only pushed in. But anywhere it's scratched or gouged obviously you are stuck with that. It is not inexpensive to have that work done though.

[R.L.]

You might try removing the fender, putting a blanket over a anvil, heat the metal to about 150 to 200 degrees, just enough to soften the paint and try a hammer on dolly approach working very slowly but even then you may need to touch up the area and try to patina the repairs. Try to keep the repairs as small as possible.

[69chevy lwb]

If you're serious about having a prefect patina vehicle look up Jerome Boris at patina plantation. He's incredible at patina repairs.here's some examples of of vehicles he's done.

[Dentguy]

Originally Posted by Mike C

Paintless dent shops do it all the time. But it can't be creased, only pushed in. But anywhere it's scratched or gouged obviously you are stuck with that. It is not inexpensive to have that work done though.

Wrong!!!
Creases can be fixed as well as a standard dent. What most people don't realize is that most "door dings" tend to have small creases in the centers.

Your panel could be fixed to keep the patina intact. The PDR tech must use lots of heat to keep the paint soft as it can be and not crack.

I've been a PDR tech for 16 years and work on lots of classics!

[Dentguy]

Crease before

[Dentguy]

1/2 way thru repair

[Dentguy]

And done!

[truckster]

Originally Posted by Dentguy

And done!

That's amazing! Do you have to have access to the back side to do that?

[Dentguy]

Yes
This is obviously a pretty extreme PDR repair but yes access is key.

[Dentguy]

Don't know why pics are sideways but you guys get the point. And Lou you're in a state which has some talented dent guys.

[Lou Boffa]

Thanks guys. Sounds like I'll be living with all her bumps, warts and dings. She earned em.